This is straight from the sample of play:
"
Dro: You can still help. You just have to tell me what you do. Nothing? Okay. Gerald isn't helping on this one.
Joss grabs 4D for Karolina's Fighter skill, +1D from her Heart of Battle trait, +1D from the Maneuver Jared led on the last action, +3D from the help offered by Megan, Thor and Luke, and +1D from Merrill's I Am Wise. She rolls 10D in total for 6 successes, but subtracts -1s since she's exhausted. Attacks are independent of other Attacks, thus Dro's kobolds lose 5 points of disposition.
Dro grabs 2D for his lead kobold's Nature, +6D from the help of the other kobolds and -1D from the results of the Maneuver on the last action. He rolls 7D for a rather improbable 6 successes. Since Attack against Attack is independent, the players' team loses 6 points of disposition. They're down to 1 point! Karolina has leather armor, so Joss rolls a die to see whether it deflected some of the damage. It comes up a 5, so it blunts the Attack by one success! That means the players' team is down to 2 points, not 1.
Since Joss led the action, she discards her hit point stone first. They still need to discard five more stones. Thor was slated to have the next action, but Merrill tugs Thor's sleeve.
"

Quote from: Black Vulmea;698349What you think sucks, and why.

The game sucks, in whole, because it's a hipster version of D&D. If that doesn't mean anything to you, I'll put it like this: the game makes fun of D&D by being MORE D&D-like than D&D. But the irony is lost because the game pretends to be way cooler than D&D, even though it's D&D with more D&Dish crap. And it doesn't make any fucking sense whatsoever.

Read the thing yourself. The ineffability of explaining hipster metairony vis-a-vis indie roleplaying games keeps me from saying anything other than "it sucks".

Quote from: Brad;698502The game sucks, in whole, because it's a hipster version of D&D. If that doesn't mean anything to you, I'll put it like this: the game makes fun of D&D by being MORE D&D-like than D&D. But the irony is lost because the game pretends to be way cooler than D&D, even though it's D&D with more D&Dish crap. And it doesn't make any fucking sense whatsoever.

Read the thing yourself. The ineffability of explaining hipster metairony vis-a-vis indie roleplaying games keeps me from saying anything other than "it sucks".

So you don't have any actual critiques that would be helpful to someone thinking about whether they want to try it or not?

I think that was a hipster review as a meta-criticism, I'm not sure.

Quote from: VictorC;698686So you don't have any actual critiques that would be helpful to someone thinking about whether they want to try it or not?

http://bit.ly/19tKRKn

That doesn't say anything about why you don't like it.
I could ask fuseboy, but he likes the game. I'd much rather hear it from a critical source (this being theRPGsite and all..)

Quote from: Brad;698715http://bit.ly/19tKRKn

So... again, you have nothing of substance to say about the game. You just want to rant like an ass-clown. O.K. got it.

Quote from: VictorC;698727So... again, you have nothing of substance to say about the game. You just want to rant like an ass-clown. O.K. got it.

You can be a dumbfuck indie rpg apologist all you want, but that doesn't mean I have to give detailed reasons why I think it sucks.

Quote from: Brad;698803You can be a dumbfuck indie rpg apologist all you want, but that doesn't mean I have to give detailed reasons why I think it sucks.

First of all, what about anything I've said makes me an apologist? Second, no, you don't have to give any reasons about anything. However, if your just going to shoot your mouth off like a half-wit with nothing relevant to say, then why even chime in.

Are you determined to demonstrate your ignorance, just like acting like a dick on the internet?

Quote from: VictorC;698895First of all, what about anything I've said makes me an apologist? Second, no, you don't have to give any reasons about anything. However, if your just going to shoot your mouth off like a half-wit with nothing relevant to say, then why even chime in.

Are you determined to demonstrate your ignorance, just like acting like a dick on the internet?

I provided something relevant: I don't like it. I explained that I cannot give specifics because the reasons for my dislike stem from ineffable concepts. If someone says they hate chocolate ice cream, and you ask why, a perfectly legitimate answer is, "I don't like how it tastes." I'm ignorant because I know I don't like it? That doesn't make any sense. So, fuck you.

Also: your. Half-wit..?

Quote from: Brad;698181If you want to extend the sandwich analogy, the bread is exquisite (speaking of course about the actual covers themselves). High production values, cover art is definitely old school and evokes the right mood. As I stated initially, you could put this right next to your circa 1977 Monster Manual and it'd look like it belonged. Production values inside, same thing: very high. The layout is clean, the editing is good...but the game itself sucks.

Think of it this way...you see a Whopper commercial on tv. It looks great. But you have a sneaking suspicion it'll taste like crap due to having eaten at Burger King a couple years ago (when I got Mouseguard). Still, you're hopeful they might have fixed those problems. You see another commercial and are convinced to fund the building of a Burger King close to your house (Kickstarter) so you can try the new Whopper. When it opens, you get the Whopper. It looks BETTER than on television. After opening the wrapper and taking a bite, you can distinguish flavors you enjoy...but for some reason they just don't go together. Also, there's a large dollop of dog shit right in the middle that destroys any chance you might have to enjoy the Whopper (the forced narrative aspect). There's really no way to scrape off all the shit because it has permeated throughout the Whopper, so you wrap it back up and put it under glass to look at, not eat.

This isn't as bad a review as people are making it out to be.

EDIT: You know what, you're right. Not having real reasons for disliking things isn't ignorant at all. Just not liking things because you don't makes you the smartest guy in the room.

Thanks for letting me bask in the glow of your genius.

Quote from: Brad;698502The game sucks, in whole, because it's a hipster version of D&D. If that doesn't mean anything to you, I'll put it like this: the game makes fun of D&D by being MORE D&D-like than D&D.

Why do you think they're making fun of D&D, given that Luke Crane and co. have been pretty vocal in their appreciation for at least Moldvay Basic?

I think what Brad is saying is that the game satirizes D&D by exaggerating D&D's tropes.

Quote from: Archangel Fascist;699918I think what Brad is saying is that the game satirizes D&D by exaggerating D&D's tropes.

No, I get what he's saying.  I'm wondering where the presumption that it's satire comes from, given that the BW crew seems to *like* D&D.  A lot.

https://plus.google.com/111266966448135449970/posts/Q8qRhCw7az5

Quote from: luke crane on Basic D&DAfter more than 16 sessions of play, I think this is a magnificent game.



This slim red volume emerged before us as a brilliant piece of game design that not only changed our world with it's own bright light, but looking from the vantage of 1981, I can see that this game changed THE world.

I don't get a whole ton of "hey, let's go make fun of this shitty game by making a caricature out of it" vibe from this - not when adjectives like "brilliant" and "magnificent" are used.

Or, to put it another way, if this had been written by, say, Steve Perrin, would the presumption still be that it was intended as satire?